1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a treadmill and relates particularly to a method of making a buffer board of a treadmill.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a treadmill uses a buffer board as a support below a belt. Because a quite large treading force is imparted to the buffer board when a user runs the treadmill, there is no buffer bounce and this is quite detrimental to the user. In this regard, it is common to install a buffer cushion and a buffer mechanism under the buffer board, stick a foam layer to the buffer board and then stick a woven layer to the foam layer. The aforesaid arrangement allows the belt to operate smoothly and concurrently provides a buffering effect.
A conventional buffer board of the treadmill is disclosed by a Taiwan patent no. 1406686. This prior art discloses bamboo strips having the appropriate thickness and width. The bamboo strips are classified into longitudinal bamboo strips and latitudinal bamboo strips. At least one longitudinal bamboo strip and at least one latitudinal bamboo strip can be crossed each other and woven into a woven bamboo plywood board. The bamboo plywood board can be superimposed by a desired thickness to construct a woven bamboo laminated plywood board, thereby enhancing the strength and keeping the buffer bounce. Further, the longitudinal bamboo strips which are attached side by side and the latitudinal bamboo strip which are attached side by side can also be put over each other to construct a stacking bamboo plywood board.
Further, the bamboo structure of the buffer board of the treadmill is typically made by quartering bamboo shafts lengthwise and cutting the quartered bamboo shafts into flattened bamboo strips in an axial direction.
Thereafter, the flattened bamboo strips are woven by crossing each other to construct a buffer board.
Because the bamboo strips made by the aforementioned method have a smaller area, too many bamboos are wasted and too much waste is caused. These problems incur an increased cost and spend a lot of weaving and manufacturing time. Further, the buffer board woven by bamboo strips has larger interstices between the bamboo strips, so a worse buffering effect is brought about.